Fuse



' 1.. J. RHEiN FUSE Filed July 5, 1943 3mm RhEiI} LDui5 J- Patented May 6, 1947 uture!) STATES PATENT OFFICE FUSE Louis J. fthein, Aberdeen, Md. Application July 5, 1943, Serial No. 493,527

(01. ice-Jere) i 1 Claim.

The invention describedhere'in maybe manumatured and used by or for the Government for {g vernmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

The present invention relates to a fuse structure which is useful in firing an explosive charge and is particularly useful with hand grenades.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a fuse which may be easily manufactured without the use of complicated machining operations or the use of critical materials.

A further object resides in a fuse which is simple in construction and readily assembled.

A further object resides in the provision of a mechanism which prevents the reuse of a grenade or other projectile on which the fuse may be attached should the device fail to explode on contact.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of elements described hereinafter.

Fig. 1 is a fragmented elevational view of a grenade and attached fuse,

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the parts in armed position,

Fig. 3 is a similar fragmentary view showing the parts in firing position,

Fig. 4 is a similar fragmentary view showing the parts in permanent dud position.

Figs. 5 and 6 are transverse sectional views on the lines 5-5 and 6-6 respectively.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary elevational view of a modified fuse.

The fuse comprises a housing formed of two parts I and 2 with the lower portion 2 provided with a threaded extension 3 which is adapted to be attached to a grenade 4 or other explosive container.

The housing is formed with angular surface in such a manner as to form an "all ways fuse. The angular surfaces of the housing I and 2 co-acts with the juxtaposed surfaces on the relatively movable fuse bodies 5 and 6. The angular surfaces are so disposed that when the fuse receives a sharp blow or jar, the fuse bodies 5 and 6 will tend to move toward one another regardless of the direction of the applied blow or jar. The fuse body 5 is urged into spaced relation to the fuse body 6 by means of a spring I and held in such a position by means of the locking balls 8. The locking balls are held in spaced relation and in contact with fuse body 6 by the spacers 9 and the arming pin 10. The spring II biases the arming pin I0 in an outward direction but is "(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) held by the lever I2 and safety pin I3 attached to the ring 14.

[The fuse 5 carries a firing pin 15 which is adapted to contact and function the primer 16 when there '.-is relative movement of the fuse bodies '5 audit. The primer [-6 on being hit by the firing pin 15 discharges the igniter or detonator I"! as the case may be and therefore ignites or detonates the charge I8 in the grenade or other missile.

The fuse body 6 carries spring pressed dud lock plungers I9 which engage the annular depression 25' in the dud lock disk 2|]. On downward movement of the fuse body 5 relative to the fuse body 6 the dud lock disk is carried downward by the fuse body 5 into the position shown in Figure 3 and the dud lock disk remains in such position when the fuse bodies return to normal position. On the return of the fuse bodies to normal position, the dud lock plungers I9 are urged into a position to lock the fuse bodies in the normal position as shown in Figure 4 and prevent the re-use of the grenade or other structure to which the fuse may be attached.

The operation of the fuse is as follows: With the hand grasping the grenade and lever I2, the safety pin and ring I3, I4 is pulled free of the lug on the upper surface of the casing I. Upon release from the hand the lever I2 and the arming pin II] are thrown free by spring II. The locking balls 8 and spacers 9 which hold the fuse in safety position are released by the arming pin I0 and move into the space vacated by the arming pin ID, as shown in Figure 2, thereby making the fuse bodies 5 and 6 susceptible to relative motion upon contact of the grenade with a solid object. Upon impact, the fuse bodies 5, 6 move relative to one another due to the all ways construction of the casing I, 2 causing the firing pin l5 to function the primer I6 which ignites or detonates the grenade filler I8 through the intermediary of the igniter or detonator H.

The relative movement of the fuse bodies 5 and 6 on impact causes the dud lock disk 20 to be disengaged from the dud locking plungers I8 and to be carried to the bottom of the recess in the fuse body 6 and to remain in such a position when the fuse body 5 is returned to normal position by the spring 1. The return of the fuse body 5 to normal position permits the dud locking plungers to move into a position as shown in Figure 4 and to lock the fuse body 5 in the upper position. The dud locking plungers act as a safety to prevent the grenade or other device, to which the fuse may be attached, from being exploded if picked up by the enemy and thrown back against the troops which originally used the grenade, should the grenade fail to work as designed to work on the original impact.

The fuse has been shown as being provided with a spring II to eject the lever l2 and the arming pin ID for purpose of clarity. The use of the spring II is optional and the fuse may be made and used without such a spring. If the spring is omitted the lever 12 and arming pin ID will be thrown clear from the fuse due to the tumbling action of grenade when the same is thrown. V

The fuse as shown in Figure 7 may utilize the spring 23 to eject the arming pin 2| through the action of radial tension of the spring 23. The

spring 23 tends to compress the locking pins 22 against the angular surface of the arming pin 2| and exert an outward pressure which is sufficient to eject the same. The remainder of the fuse in Figure 7 is similar to that of Fig. 1.

I claim:

A fuse comprising a casing, two main body members in the casing movable to and from each other and carrying ccacting firing components, resilient means holding said members normally distended, one of said members being provided with a bore extending laterally therethrough, an

expendible arming pin intersecting the bore, removable blocking means at the outer end of the bore, additional blocking means in said bore between the first mentioned blocking means and the expendible pin and holding said first mentioned blocking means in position, both of said blocking means being normally held in blocking position by said pin and released when said arming pin is expended to permit relative movement of said members.

' LOUIS J. RHEJN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,709,798 Lebensart Apr. 18, 1929 1,769,848 Lebensart July 1, 1930 1,890,274 Weszychi Dec. 6, 1932 1,304,544 Conrad et a1 May 27, 1919 1,768,678 Froelich July 1, 1930 1,372,744 Goddard Mar. 29, 1921 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 126,096 Britain Apr. 22, 1919 

